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From: erkyrath@netcom.com (Andrew Plotkin)
Subject: Re: Linearity vs. interactivity (re: Tapestry)
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Date: Fri, 6 Dec 1996 16:02:34 GMT
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richard barnett (richardb@msi-uk.com) wrote:
> i don't agree:  there were large sections which weren't at all interactive,
> since all you had to do was type `z', read the next paragraph of text, and
> repeat. 

I have been known to use this effect myself, mostly because I hate long 
"cut scenes" worse (a la Legend)

> the path of morningstar without even realising that there were other paths
> available.  (yes, the prologue mentions other paths, but i sunk straight
> into that `twilight zone' genre you mentioned:  ``given this setup,'' i
> mused, ``i have to right the wrongs of my life, and the author will have
> expected me to do that.'')

> how many other people did this?

Nope; I saw the three paths and played through them one at a time.

I thought the author was remarkably even-handed in his treatment of the
three paths. Non-judgemental, I mean. I started out taking the "repeat
without change" path, then did the "fix your life" path, then then "repeat
and transcend" -- that order chosen because I like seeing things from
least interesting to most interesting, and that's the sequence in terms of
my own preferences in fiction. 

--Z

-- 

"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the
borogoves..."
